Words With Friends

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Strategy Guide

Words With Friends by Zynga is a mobile word game a lot like Scrabble and now you can play against friends anywhere. The game takes place on a digital board for up to 20 simultaneous games.

Play against friends or random players in a turn-based word game for points. Download the app to play Words With Friends on your smartphone or tablet. Or play online at Zynga.com or Facebook. At the end of the game highest score wins!

Gameplay

To start a game you have 7 letters to create a word with at least one tile placed on the center star. Each new word formed must share at least one tile of a pre-existing word. Each letter has it’s own value that can be multiplied by the colored squares. Words can be formed horizontally or vertically and it is possible to create multiple words with the same turn. You must create a word, swap letters, or pass each turn.

The Board

The board is 15 x 15 with 61 colored squares which includes the center star square where game play begins. Colored squares on the board each have additional values and some colored squares can multiply total word scores.

Letters & Scoring

There are 104 letter tiles in each game and generally vowels have lower point values than consonants. There are 2 blank tiles that carry no point value, while blank tiles carry no point value they can become any letter you wish.

Letters values range from 1 point for A, E, I, O, R, S, and T up to 10 points for J, Q, and Z. Each word is scored separately, including bonuses, and the total score is the sum all of the new words together. Earn a 35 point bonus for using all 7 of your tiles for any word.

The game ends when the first person uses up all their tiles and there are no additional shared tiles available. Letters still held by the opposing player at the end of the game are counted against their score. In the event of a tie the player with the highest score at the beginning of the last turn wins.

High Scoring Words

Improve your Words With Friends strategy by familiarizing yourself with the common 2 letter and 3 letter words. On occasion a well placed “ZA” can get you out of a jam and a decent score. The highest scoring 2 letter words are:

Strategy and Tips

Words can intersect with other words on the board. Create multi-word combinations to build higher scores. The letter S can be a great for multi-word combinations. Add an S to the end of many words to make it plural while using the S to start, end, or be part of a new word on the board.

Maintain an even mix of vowels and consonants, of the 104 tiles in the game there are 44 vowels and 58 consonants. A balance of letters will provide more opportunity in choosing words to play and avoid holding onto uncommon duplicate consonants.

Don’t make it easy for your opponent to get high scoring words and try to use every triple or double word score to your advantage. With the right letters those point multiplies can easily decide a game winner.